


Hello, Stranger

by k_itt



Category: NCT (Band), WayV (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Background Relationships, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Smut, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-01-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:54:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22339600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/k_itt/pseuds/k_itt
Summary: Jaehyun fell in love with a city.Jaehyun fell in love with a stranger.
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten
Comments: 23
Kudos: 77





	Hello, Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you @Immaunreliablenarrator for proofreading this. <3  
> You're awesome, dear.

_\------ Day one_

Shanghai was a fascinating city at night. It looked amazing in the day, too, but Jaehyun had only seen the vast line of trees on the highway that stacked up in so many layers of elevated roads Jaehyun could barely count. He had seen buildings higher than the clouds and in so many different shapes. And bikes, bikes everywhere. It was… intriguing, to say the least, under the greyish sky on his way to meetings that went for hours and hours, between translators and businessmen talking endlessly and something inside Jaehyun’s mind told him: they were using it in their favor.

Their only break had been lunch at some fancy Japanese restaurant at the top floor of the art-deco-ish hotel across the street, from where they could see the Pearl Tower up-close and the Bund right across the river. Too bad it was too windy to stay outside and the clouds blocked most of the view, but it was worth it anyway.

Too bad he had to talk about numbers and partnerships, and endure meaningless conversations about perfect spouses and what beautiful brides Shanghai women could be, and hear about how Jaehyun should use his free time to find one for himself and get closer to his partners in China. Now this, this wasn’t worth the view. Too bad he couldn’t just sneak to the bar area and get a better view of the guy with sharp eyes and a bright smile that chatted too familiarly with one of the barmen as he sat there by himself. That had been a great view, nonetheless.

Shanghai at night was totally something else. Dinner had been more bearable as Johnny had joined him and their fellow businessmen in time for a round of drinks at another fancy restaurant – western style – in some actual cozy area of short, old brick buildings on one side of the street, while the other side shone with too many designer brand stores and tall, golden, and glassy buildings. New and old just a few feet apart, literally.

It was like the whole city had been lit up at night and even the trees had Christmas lights around them, and it was only April. Everything around them glowed, somehow. Even the highways shined with LED lights that colored the streets above them and it was mesmerizing. Their driver had been kind enough to drive them through the Bund on the way to their hotel so they could see all those historic buildings on one side, and all those modern ones (including the one they had spent the day locked inside a meeting room), the Pearl Tower, and that same hotel where he’d seen the guy with the bright smile.

Maybe Jaehyun had too many drinks, or maybe he was just tired, but he could swear he had seen that same guy sometime during the night, while they were sitting outside the restaurant and in front of a small water fountain, surrounded by many other restaurants. He was sure he’d seen him, walking the down the square with another guy and Jaehyun couldn’t really tell if the other guy was too tall, or the guy with pretty eyes was too short, but that large smile, that pointed nose and those thin eyes, Jaehyun knew he had seen them before.

Johnny had caught him staring and nudged him with his knee under the table before Jaehyun embarrassed himself by not knowing what to answer when one of the men that could actually speak English asked him about their plans for the weekend – besides more meetings, of course. It was only Tuesday, but they wouldn’t leave until next Wednesday. It would be a long week.

Neither Jaehyun or Johnny had really planned anything for their free time, except for actually resting at their hotel, but now, as they looked outside the car window where so many different colors and shapes passed by, they knew exactly what they wanted to see the next night. And Jaehyun didn’t say it out loud, but maybe he would like to go back to that same small square, surrounded by brick buildings and small lights and that looked nothing like something he expected to find in China, but somehow, he did.

_\------ Day Two_

China has a population of over 1.4 billion people and Shanghai itself was China’s largest city with over 25 million people, and the fact that Jaehyun had seen him, the guy from the hotel bar for the third time in a span of less than 48 hours was utterly astonishing.

Johnny’s ability to charmingly ditch people without them noticing or getting any way fazed by it was something that Jaehyun was profoundly grateful in their lifelong friendship, and mostly, when it came to business. And the fact that Johnny had managed to ward them off of another boring dinner after another long day of endless meetings, was enough reason for Jaehyun to treat him to coffee, somewhere at the Bund, just as they had planned last night.

Either Jaehyun was hallucinating, or the the guy had a really common face, but Jaehyun doubted that. He had never seen someone quite like him before, he was sure, so when Johnny held the Starbucks’ glass door at the bay open for that old lady to step inside, followed by two men around their age, Jaehyun couldn’t really believe his eyes.

The new guy had short, silver hair, which stood out from every other passerby, but the black haired guy beside him, with too many piercings in his ears and a mischievous smile that Jaehyun couldn’t possibly mistake – the short one – was the one who captured his eye. And if their gazes locked at that moment, it didn’t last more than a second as Johnny gently pulled him outside.

“What’s wrong, man?”

“Oh, no, nothing,” Jaehyun blinked a few times for his eyes to adjust to the darkness outside as they made their way to the rail. “I just thought I’d seen someone.”

“From work?”

Jaehyun shook his head. “Just someone.”

“In China?”

“Yeah, just someone. Never mind.” It was probably worthless explaining and his mocha was more appealing, anyway. 

Shanghai was indeed breathtaking at night, as the Pearl Tower blinked in different colors – but looked exactly like a pokeball once it stopped on red – and Shanghai Tower looked just as magnificent from afar, as it had been from up-close when Jaehyun almost strained his neck so he could see its peak from the ground. Jaehyun had laughed for a full minute when Johnny pointed out that the World Financial Center looked like a futuristic bottle opener, but Jaehyun really wondered what it would be to see it every day, if it would ever get boring, like Seoul had become at one point. Like Seattle was now.

It had been five years since he moved from Seoul, following his best friend’s dream – their dream – and it had been worth it, really. But Shanghai’s lights had hypnotized him and for a few minutes, as they quietly stared at the sight across the river, the soft, chilly wind blowing their hair, Jaehyun wondered what it would be like to live behind one of those many lit up windows.

_\------ Day Three_

Shanghai’s duplicity both shocked and amazed both Johnny and Jaehyun, as in they spent their last days between fancy offices and meeting rooms, always spacious and full of technology, and luxury restaurants with large round tables and velvet cushions and exotic drinks; even their hotel was on that same spectrum – bless their (maybe) future investors – but whenever they looked outside their car window, they could see those small streets and small local stores and Jaehyun was dying to explore them.

They’ve had lunch at one of Shanghai’s most famous restaurants so they could try the local cuisine and everything, from the grilled eggplant to the red spice with chicken – not the other way around – was perfect to his taste, but nothing could compare to dumplings. Chicken dumplings, pork dumplings, crab dumplings, truffle dumplings: Jaehyun could eat them on a daily basis, he swore. Xiao long bao, that’s how it’s called and Jaehyun made sure to memorize it. This and Xintiandi, as that was the area they had dinner on that first night. That same place where Jaehyun had seen the short guy with oversized clothes walking by.

Jaehyun wasn’t one to believe in fate, but he never thought some things would happen out of coincidence either, but now he started to doubt himself. When he voiced that to Johnny – that he had seen the same guys three times in less than two days, that is – Johnny said he might have just mistaken the guy from the bar, with the other two, since he hadn’t really seen him that time, but there was something in the way that the guy smiled that Jaehyun just knew it had been the same guy, all those times.

Somehow, Jaehyun really thought he was going insane when he saw a flash of that smile when he looked sideways on the street somewhere in Xintiandi later at night and as fast as he (thought) he had seen it, it was lost between the mass of people that crossed the street around them.

Johnny had worked his magic again and lured the older men they had spent the last few days with out on their feet at night so they could walk back to the place they’d seen a Shake Shack before. Jet lag hadn’t been quite a problem except for some headache on the first day and everything they ate was delicious, but a Black and White milkshake somehow hit closer to home right now than a bagel from Starbucks, or even some Korean barbecue.

Finding their way via Shanghai’s metro line was easier than they thought, much like walking down Xintiandi’s cozy streets, in which many of them bikes were the only vehicle to be seen, between tables and so many people that it didn’t look like it was only Thursday. They walked around a bit after eating, still slurping on their milkshakes, and where there were so many small stores, from pottery to all kinds of teas that one could buy; from local stores to tattoo shops and a pet shop full of cats inside, that Jaehyun wished wasn’t already closed so he could walk in and just pet them.

It was spring, but the night wind was chilly and refreshing against their skin as they made their way back to that same fountain square, where Johnny had seen some cool store and he was sure he could find (another) gift for Taeyong.

Johnny probably would and the store just looked way too much like his best friend’s boyfriend, Jaehyun thought, as he stared at the full astronaut suit displayed on the window, next to a dog shaped speaker and some nice t-shirts that Jaehyun almost convinced himself to buy. But what had really caught up his eyes was the reflection of the neon-red letters that flickered in the glass window.

Jaehyun turned around and although they’d walked past the place a few times, Jaehyun hadn’t seen it before, where a small gap between stores led to a hidden staircase beside the neon sign. A tall man – taller than Johnny – in a black suit stood by the entrance, but he looked nothing close to intimidating when Johnny and Jaehyun approached him and he simply smiled and welcomed them.

The brick wall to their right, supposedly grey, was tinted with blue and red and, slowly, 90’s music reached Jaehyun’s ears as he climbed each step and something inside Jaehyun flickered, like the sign at the base and Jaehyun noticed he saw it, but didn’t read it.

“Nice,” Johnny wowed, two steps ahead of him and soon enough Jaehyun found himself mimicking him.

“Nice.”

The place was more than nice, actually, only dimly lit by the neon on the ceiling and from a wall on the very back where bottles and glasses of all shapes and colors filled up the stacks. Some small, round tables lined up by a long tall couch that led to the bar area and in front of it, while some wooden counter lined up the windows, from where you could see the astronaut suit and the passersby on the ground beneath them.

The bar was narrow. So narrow that Jaehyun couldn’t walk beside Johnny between the small tables and the people talking and drinking by the windows as they made their way to the back, near the bar. The place turned around a corner a few steps forward - L-shaped, but just as cozy - where Jaehyun could see more tables and more people sipping from colored drinks by the window, and something in this reminded him of the sight they’d seen from the Bund.

“Hello, stranger,” said a waiter in full English.

Jaehyun’s heart almost burst out of his ribcage when he looked sideways to the waiter that leaned on their table and Jaehyun recognized that same smile, but ten thousand times brighter and looking way too endearing from up-close and under the soft light, than all those times Jaehyun was now sure he had seen him before.

“Welcome to Jam. My name is Ten and I’m here to assist you,” the waiter, Ten, smiled at both of them now and pulled back as he handed them the menus, but Jaehyun still seemed awestruck as he ignored Johnny’s curious stares and then watched his friend ask for suggestions, and the waiter pointed back and forth through the pages until Johnny chose some drink Jaehyun honestly hadn’t paid any attention to. “What about you, stranger?”

There was something about the way the guy smiled that caught Jaehyun’s interest in the first glance. Something blithe, almost carefree about it that lightened up something in Jaehyun’s heart, at the same time it stirred up his curiosity, much like staring at Shanghai’s lights did, and his eyes reflected just the same thing and more: sharp, but sweet; dark, but bright.

“What’s your favorite?” Jaehyun didn’t mean to sound cocky at all, but he could hear Johnny snorting beside him, and Ten’s mouth parted to scoff as he smiled widely.

“It’s not on the menu, but I can bring it if you’re willing to take a risk.”

Something inside Jaehyun flickered again, like it did when they climbed up the stairs, but this time he was the one smiling as he nodded and, for god’s sake, he wasn’t even sure if the guy was gay or not. He probably was, or Jaehyun was definitely going insane if he had only imagined the guy – Ten – flirting back with like that.

Minutes later and some other waiter brought them their drinks, and while Johnny’s tasted as good as a good drink with tequila should, Jaehyun’s drink had a flavor that was hard to identify. It was something between sweet and sour with something spicy, and somehow, when Jaehyun’s eyes wandered around the room, between dark spaces and colored lights, dazzling, but not blinding, he stopped searching when he found Ten’s eyes and they sparkled just the same, it was only then that Jaehyun figured exactly what his drink had reminded him of.

_\------ Day Four_

China had been absolutely enchanting so far. Well, at least Shanghai was, as it was all Jaehyun had seen, but he couldn’t think of it any differently as he stared outside the window at the high-floor conference room where he had been stuck with Johnny and some other people he knew, but mostly people he hadn’t, until earlier that morning.

Once again he was glad for Johnny being there as he didn’t have to explain those same things, over and over again, probably with a lot of relevant information being lost in translation, all by himself. He was glad for Johnny being there also because his own mind was probably not there, for a good part of it, as he fished, time and time again, for the small paper with a number and some kind of username for a social media kind of app that Jaehyun had only heard about a week before this trip to China.

“Just text him,” Johnny told him earlier during breakfast, but Jaehyun only did it hours later, sometime around noon.

It was only another few hours later when Jaehyun waited for him, not far away from that same Starbucks at the Bund he had been with Johnny, now with a tall iced Americano in hands as he leaned against the railing, while staring at the sky being painted dark as the sun set somewhere behind him.

“Hello, stranger.”

Jaehyun turned around to be greeted by the sweetest smile as the guy from the restaurant, the guy from this same Starbucks, the guy from Xintiandi’s streets and the same guy from yesterday night stared at him with soft and curious eyes, shining slightly brighter than Jaehyun remembered from the light of the sunset that hit his face.

If Shanghai delighted him through days, Ten entranced him in an hour as they walked along Huangpu River and within minutes he had learned that Ten had just graduated from Art School, but was currently working as a waiter at the bar Jaehyun had visited with Johnny, and that Ten’s best friend, named Lucas, worked as a bartender at both Jam – the bar – and at the hotel’s restaurant where Jaehyun had first seen him, and where Ten had first seen him too. He learned that Ten likes his latte sweet, with caramel and hazelnuts, but actually had a thing for spicy foods, and the drink Jaehyun had tasted last night was Lucas’s personal creation, just for Ten. He learned that Ten was born in Thailand and moved to Shanghai as a kid, but dreamed he could live in Venice one day.

“Why Venice?”

“I don’t know,” Ten tilted his head and looked sideways and the Pearl Tower blinked purple behind him, the sky tinted indigo above them making the city lights shine bright, but somewhat soft. “Maybe I lived there in my past life. I just always dreamed I could go to Venice.”

_\------ Day Five_

China didn’t stop on weekends. Or so Jaehyun learned as he woke up earlier than all the previous days and he wished he could sleep for another fifteen minutes on their one-hour commute to Shanghai’s National Exhibition and Convention Center, but the businessman accompanying them would most certainly feel offended.

But what Jaehyun really learned later that evening, after having the best dumplings so far from a small street restaurant along with Johnny, Ten and Sicheng – another one of Ten’s best friends – was that Ten’s eyes sparkled brighter whenever he talked about his drawings and that his laughter would come in small puffs as his shoulders shook and his voice pinched just a little, just enough to have Jaehyun endearing stretching his own smile, as he openly stared.

Jaehyun learned that Ten had a lot of best friends and the way both he and Sicheng talked about them had Jaehyun feeling all fuzzy inside and, somehow, Jaehyun found himself just as curious about them as he had felt about Shanghai’s bright windows. Jaehyun noticed how Ten’s smile disappeared when they talked about family, but returned as tender as the glow inside his eyes when Jaehyun simply mentioned some old building he had seen on their way back to Pudong, just to change the subject, and found out it was actually Ten’s favorite movie theater, and they would try to find time for it tomorrow, perhaps.

If Shanghai was fascinating, Ten was stunning under the soft, yellow lights from the streets around them as they walked to the bus station, Johnny and Sicheng a few steps ahead of them talking loudly, probably because of the cheap beer.

Sicheng’s boyfriend, Kun, and another friend of theirs had joined them in front of some convenience store when they stopped somewhere on the other side of the city (Jaehyun couldn’t quite repeat its name). Jaehyun had learned then that Kun and Hendery worked together at some tech start-up that very much resembled his and Johnny’s one, and that, in fact, Lucas couldn’t join them at the karaoke as he was covering Ten’s shift that night. Ten’s cheeks had tinted pink when Sicheng explained that last part.

They gave up on the karaoke when Johnny spotted this cute little tea store beside a narrow road that opened up to another hidden square, surrounded by all kinds of coffee shops and cozy restaurants that led to a handful of other, just as narrow streets, covered by small lights and old lanterns as they walked between all kinds of local stores. Johnny bought at least five different gifts for Taeyong, from tea sets and sachets, to handmade jewelry before they had picked a table inside this pork and beer bistro, where Jaehyun learned that Ten hated fruit – courtesy of Kun– and will forget everything if he drinks just this bit more than usual – from Hendery, this time, with confirmation of both Kun and Sicheng. The fact that Ten denied it to death probably meant his friends were indeed right.

It was sometime later that night, as Jaehyun walked back to this small hat store they had passed by earlier alongside Ten, while all of Ten’s friends and Johnny continued to drink and wait for them back at the bistro, it was only then that Jaehyun learned that Ten also didn’t believe in fate, and neither thought that things happened simply out of coincidence.

“It’s about what you do with the opportunities that come to your hands,” Ten explained as they walked by a few closed stores that made their path slightly darker.

“Then how do you explain that I have seen you so many times in a couple of days in a city as big as Shanghai?”

Ten stopped at the question and he frowned, head tilted sideways as he stared at Jaehyun, but not exactly at him.

“I’d seen you at the hotel first,” Jaehyun started counting as he turned to Ten and Ten nodded in confirmation. “I’d seen you at Starbucks and I’d seen you twice near your work, all of this in a span of less than three days and that was all before I met you.”

“And yet you came back to Xintiandi and showed up right where I work.”

“Wouldn’t you think it’s too much to be just a coincidence?”

“I should probably think you’re a stalker, yet I gave you my number.”

Jaehyun laughed loudly and openly, to the point it made him double over and his ears burned slightly when he glanced back at Ten and he smiled just like that first time Jaehyun saw him; sharp eyes and bright smile and something mischievous that captured Jaehyun’s attention and enthralled him ever since.

Jaehyun learned, as he stepped closer, that Ten’s eye color changed under different lights and they looked almost black beneath Jaehyun’s stare, but soothing and tempting and as curious as ever as Jaehyun leaned down slowly. Just as slowly, Jaehyun learned that Ten’s perfume was just as intriguing as his personality: soft, but striking and not too sweet and somewhat bold that would linger in Jaehyun’s mind.

Jaehyun was spellbound when their lips finally touched on this dimly lit street, their bodies pressed together in the shadows of the stores around them with Ten’s back against the cold brick wall, like the night wind of early spring nights. But the air between them, where their breaths mixed together was nothing but warm, as their mouths molded with each other without a worry in the world.

_\------ Day Six_

Shanghai was that kind of city that people would either hate, or love, nothing in between. The traffic was heavy, even on Sundays; the streets were particularly busy with people and bikes and scooters on a Sunday. The scooters and bikes popped around every corner, out of nowhere, to the point where both Jaehyun and Johnny almost got ran over – or they were the ones almost running into them – at one point or another during their ventures near their hotel.

Jaehyun loved it how he could spot so many different people and find so many different and new details in the same spot, and sometimes he didn’t even need to watch from a different spot, as there was always something new, something endearing – sometimes not – just there, waiting for Jaehyun to uncover.

Much like it happened as Jaehyun talked to Ten or simply stared at him as they walked outside that same movie theater they had mentioned before. It was just the two of them this time and it was comforting how silence felt between them as Jaehyun stared at Shanghai’s skyline from the rooftop of this museum that happened to be some old, abandoned factory building. They have talked all the way there, about the movie Jaehyun hadn’t really paid attention to, but somehow Ten still did catch most of it, and about Shanghai and what it was like living in a city like this. They talked about Seattle and Seoul, and Bangkok and Venice, and about how Ten lived in China for sixteen years but hasn’t been to the Great Wall, not even once. Jaehyun really wanted to go there, at least once, but it would have to wait until some other time.

Jaehyun took a few pictures of Ten on that rooftop and as Ten stared the art hung on large white walls and talked about colors, and shadows, and created stories of what said artist had in mind when he decided to paint the sun blue, instead of yellow, that made Jaehyun laugh louder than they should inside those galleries and people to glare at their almost childish behavior. Jaehyun was sure they would be kicked out of the museum when Ten mocked some important, public man that had his image projected on another wall, right in front of a security guard, but they were not. Not even when their own shadows got in the way of some other projection – it was a video of mixed letters that formed words in different languages that, again, Jaehyun didn’t pay attention to as he kissed Ten just as slowly as he did on that street – inside another dark section of this endless art maze.

They’d parted ways in front of Ten’s work half an hour after Ten’s shift had actually started and another good ten minutes after the time Jaehyun was supposed to meet Johnny at a nearby mall.

_\------ Day Seven_

Ten was breathtaking on that Monday night. Jaehyun had been locked inside meeting rooms for the whole day once again and both he and Johnny were too tired to even think of joining those same business men for dinner, and something in their faces probably said it, as Johnny didn’t need to work his magic that night. At least a few contracts had already been signed, so they didn’t have much to worry about before their last day of work.

Johnny was really tired, so Jaehyun didn’t feel bad for leaving his friend alone at their hotel when he left for dinner with Ten. The bar where Ten worked at closed on Mondays, so they’d agreed to have dinner together while they texted the previous night, Ten using the spare time between waiting tables to reply.

Jaehyun properly met Lucas when he stepped back inside that first restaurant he’d been in Shanghai, where he first caught a glimpse of Ten’s alluring smile, where Ten now waited for him on the same stool. Lucas had given them a discount – meaning free drinks and bar snacks that filled them up enough to the point they barely ordered any proper food from the restaurant – and a table on the windy balcony that, for sure, had the best view from the city.

Shanghai lights shone from everywhere around them, the Pearl Tower standing right beside them and the Bund, from where Jaehyun had stared at this side of the city before, glowed mostly yellow beneath them, across the river. But Jaehyun’s eyes assured to focus on Ten’s eyes, instead, glittering and shimmering right in front of him.

Ten wasn’t much of a tease, but had a duplicity of his own that rivaled Shanghai. He would giggle like a kid over the Jaehyun’s silliest college story one second, and had his lips curved in the coyest smirk that turned almost sinful in the next one. Ten would seem lost, almost in reverie, as he spoke about some of his plans or told his own stories from memories shared mostly with friends, and then would stare at Jaehyun, full eyes and ears as if Jaehyun told him about the secrets of the world, but it was only about this dog Jaehyun had as a child.

Ten had even listened when Jaehyun talked about his and Johnny’s work and their endless meetings during that last week and Ten even asked him more about what he did, back in Seattle, but Jaehyun didn’t want to talk about it that night, as they made their way to Jaehyun’s hotel room.

Jaehyun had learned a lot more about Ten that night, after Ten laughed timidly as Jaehyun closed the door behind them, and when Ten turned toward him, his eyes sparkled with something different, something new, and Jaehyun doubted he would ever feel bored staring at them. It was amazing how shy Ten could look like at the same time he could walk feline-like, right into Jaehyun’s arms. And it was almost alarming how well Ten would fit between his arms and how perfectly Ten’s waist seemed to follow Jaehyun’s hand as he pulled him closer and closer.

Jaehyun could probably get himself addicted to Ten’s lips as they kissed, not as slowly, and not as patiently as they did before, this time beside Jaehyun’s hotel bed, and the way Ten pulled Jaehyun’s lips between his teeth ignited a spark in Jaehyun’s head and the next thing he remembered was feeling Ten’s skin hot beneath his fingertips as he lifted up his shirt and the warmness of Ten’s hands against his chest, his own shirt only halfway unbuttoned under Ten’s intense stare.

Jaehyun learned, as they leaned on the bed with shirts forgotten and belts undone, that there was a spot under Ten’s ears that made him shiver and pull Jaehyun closer whenever Jaehyun’s tongue or lips or breath reached it. Jaehyun also learned he liked playing with Ten’s piercings and that Ten’s small moan when he pulled them was probably capable of killing Jaehyun one day. Jaehyun learned that Ten actually liked sloppy kisses as they grinded their bodies together, as did he.

Ten’s perfume was even more dazzling as Jaehyun kissed all the way from his neck, down his torso and the outline of his waist, and tasted so much more than just some fragrance from a store under his skin. Jaehyun learned that the laugh that came from Ten’s mouth as they fumbled with their pants and underwear was one of the sweetest things Jaehyun had ever heard and, somehow, fitted very on point the words that escaped Ten’s lips, like curses, when their shafts touched, bare, between Jaehyun’s firm fingers. Somehow, it was Jaehyun who actually cursed – at least in a language Jaehyun could understand – when Jaehyun found out how hot and skillful Ten’s mouth could be around his dick.

Jaehyun was amazed by how much Ten would tease and take and then give as they flipped around the bed, tasting each other, and the white hotel comforter was as messy as Jaehyun’s hair probably was between Ten’s fingers, as Jaehyun slowly pressed his own fingers, one by one and as tempting as he could make it, inside Ten’s body. They wouldn’t have time to do that again, but they could have the whole night to do it, over and over again, and Jaehyun just wanted this night to last forever.

Jaehyun had learned that Ten was more the quiet type, as his gasps would fill Jaehyun’s ears and his moans would actually stun him, or maybe it was the hotness of Ten’s body, pressing tight around him. But when their bodies were fully connected, with Jaehyun buried deep inside Ten and Ten stared at him with longing eyes, dark and sharp and bright and as deep as they could be, Jaehyun knew he was probably screwed.

The sound of their bodies rocking together mixed with moans and groans and gasps that grew in number, but not in volume, as they slowly set their pace, before they almost lost it only to find it again in a rhythm of their own, and it was fascinating how Jaehyun lost himself into it, somewhere between Ten’s eyes and his mouth and the pressing of needy hands around his body, and the delightful feeling of having Ten around him, beneath him, and pressed under his weight and against the bed, bodies mixed into one, just like their shadows had been, more than once.

And when Ten moaned his name just a little bit louder, just for Jaehyun to hear, beside his ear, and Ten’s body clenched around his dick and trembled between his arms as he came, untouched and messy between their bodies, Jaehyun learned that he could probably learn everything about Ten, over and over again, if only he could. And just like that, the sight of Ten’s closed eyes and lips half open in some kind of bliss, and completely different from Jaehyun’s first sight of Ten, was just what it took for Jaehyun to come inside him, filling up the condom.

_\------ Day Eight_

Shanghai was a captivating city during the night. It was past midnight that night when Jaehyun laid sideways on the hotel bed, Ten’s slim body warm and naked against his own naked body and between his arms, the messed up comforter now above them, not beneath them, as Jaehyun pressed small sweet kisses over Ten’s neck.

Jaehyun and Johnny’s last meeting, on their last day in Shanghai, would start only after noon so there was no need for any of them to wake up early. They would have a farewell dinner afterwards, and from this one Johnny couldn’t wiggle their way out. They were actually looking forward to it, in fact, as it would mark the start of their journey through the Chinese market and that was certainly good for their business. But that also meant Jaehyun couldn’t meet Ten later that night, so he would make their Monday, turned into Tuesday, the best he could.

Ten chuckled between his arms, shoulders tensing up a bit when Jaehyun learned that the same spot that made Ten shiver, just a couple of hours ago, had now caused him tickles and Jaehyun couldn’t help but laugh at another one of Ten’s enchanting dualities.

“What are the chances that you’re ever coming back to Shanghai again?” Ten asked softly as he played with the hair of Jaehyun’s arm that circled around his waist

“It’s possible,” Jaehyun answered just as softly as he watched Ten’s lips turn into a tantalizing smile. “We signed a few contracts earlier, there might be another one or two tomorrow, so it's quite possible, actually.”

When Ten bit the corner of his lip, and it wasn’t enough to hide the brightness of his smile, Jaehyun was the one not capable of hiding his own smile, especially not when Ten turned to him with sunny and mischievous brown eyes.

“Cool.”

Jaehyun snorted at Ten’s choice of words – word – and he nodded.

“Yeah, cool.”

And when Ten smiled so openly, with such nonchalance and a borderline naivety that contrasted so much with the cockiness of his eyes, Jaehyun felt trapped again by a simple glimpse of Ten’s _je ne sais quois,_ just like that very first time inside that restaurant, but with something more; something that flickered inside him, time and again, whenever he stared right into Ten’s eyes. And that something that burned inside him when their lips met again, and again, and again.

And when Jaehyun turned Ten one more time in bed, and kissed him endlessly, and their touches lingered, and they craved for each other with an urgency that awestruck Jaehyun’s mind, they did turn that morning into night.

_\------ Day Nine_

Shanghai had been a delightful city and Ten had made it absolutely unforgettable.

It had been a pleasant sight waking up on that Wednesday morning to a picture that probably one of Ten’s friends had taken of the two of them together that Saturday night, brightening up his phone.

_Have a safe flight, stranger._

It wasn’t nearly as endearing as it had been waking up to the sight of a sleepy Ten by his side on Tuesday morning – and only after at least a couple of calls from Johnny – but it was pleasant, nonetheless.

Shanghai had been intriguing, charming, utterly amazing, and those were things Jaehyun could also say about that guy with sharp brown eyes and a mesmerizing, bright smile that stole Jaehyun’s heart at first glance, but enthralled and amused him the more Jaehyun got to learn about Ten. And he could probably say the same about Shanghai.

There was a mixed feeling of fulfilment and some kind of longing inside Jaehyun’s heart on his way back to the airport that Jaehyun couldn’t quite describe, but something inside him told him he would miss it. All of it. And Jaehyun couldn’t help but think again that he would never get bored by any of it.

_\------ Day Seventy Two_

They had told Jaehyun that Shanghai was hot during summers, but he never expected this. He checked the forecast on his phone and it showed him it was as bad as it felt on his skin as stepped outside the airport, but the goosebumps of that voice so close to his ears sent shivers down his spine, despite the number displayed on his phone.

“Hello, stranger.”

Jaehyun turned around to meet those eyes he had dreamed about almost every night since his last trip, shining brightly and as dazzling as ever, just like that smile that sparkled beaming at him, right in front of him, and not from the glass of his phone.

“Hi, Ten.”

Jaehyun would get used to Shanghai’s weather. Jaehyun would probably never get used to the sight of Shanghai’s skyline from the Bund – or for the Bund skyline itself. What Jaehyun was absolutely sure of was that he would always be amazed by the sight of Ten’s smile and would be forever, and gladly, spellbound by the sight of Ten’s stare. And right now, he couldn’t wait for them to be inside his new flat in Shanghai – the one that Sicheng actually helped him rent for the next year, and hopefully even longer, if business kept on his and Johnny’s side – so he could pull Ten closer and nothing in Shanghai’s weather would compare to the warmness of Ten’s arms around his neck and the hotness of Ten’s lips against his mouth.

China had a population Jaehyun hadn’t been able to imagine, proportionally, until he stepped foot on China itself, and somehow, between all those people, he found the same person over, and over again. Call it fate, call it whatever, but probably Ten was right as what really mattered was what you did with the things you had the opportunity to have in your hands.

And now, while Jaehyun caressed Ten’s face with a hand and the other held tightly around Ten’s waist, Jaehyun knew he should keep this. And when Ten’s lips curved into the softest of the smiles, just for Jaehyun, before they kissed, just as slowly as the first time, Jaehyun knew he had found himself a new home, right there, back in Shanghai.

**Author's Note:**

> [@twitter](https://twitter.com/10queso)   
>  [@curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/10queso)


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